LIFE ON THE ISLAND
As on many islands you expect to get a lot of palm trees layered with coconuts, white sandy beaches and a friendly local greeting you in a vibrant tongue telling you to enjoy your stay on the island.
Fiji is much the same. It consists of 333 islands with two main "bigger" islands . The people are extremely warm and relational orientated and your watch is only used to tell you when it's time for your next meal.
According to history, Fijians came over from Africa with "big canoes" in the 1800's. Not hard to believe. As the Fijian culture is surprisingly similar to some African cultures. really simplistic, relaxed but still with a British and Christian undertone. Remarkably half of Fiji's population is Indians. The British brought Indian slave workers over, in the late 1800's.
Most of Fiji converted to the Christian faith when a Fijian chief accepted Christ in the 1900's. Quoting a pastor, " even the dogs are Christian in Fiji." There is a lot of religion in the form of Christianity, but also Hinduism and Islam.
Our contact in Fiji is the national Youth With A Mission (YWAM) director of Fiji.
The First 10 Days we spent at a rural YWAM base just outside Labasa. It was a great time, sleeping in our tents, doing basic construction, maintenance and landscaping work. We also spent some time with the YWAM students and got to do some evangelism within a Hindu community.
After Labasa we moved south to a small touristy town, SavuSavu. There we supported a local pastor planting a church. It was a good time for us as a team. We had a lot of time with the community and with each other building relationships.
The highlight in Fiji was probably 4 of our team members being baptized in the pacific ocean. We also got to play some club rugby for a local rugby team. It's been 5 years since my last rugby game.
For me personally Fiji was a difficult time, being sick and under constant trail in my thoughts about my future. But I believe God came through and renewed my mind into His truth.
Our next challenge starts on Saturday. We will leave for Singapore/Malaysia and go out in groups of 2 doing our Luke 10 faith journey for 10 days.
Please pray that Christ would be our center through out our journey and that our physical needs wouldn't be in His way.
Thanks for everyone's prayer and support
Henr Knobel
Work your Way 2015